ELVIS COLE CREATOR SEEKS THE
POSITIVE IN MYSTERIES

(The Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, June 14, 1997)

Byline: Bob Hoover

Where would a crime novelist be without bad guys,
unless he's RobertCrais?

''I really believe people are basically good,''
said Crais, 43, creator ofthe popular Elvis Cole mystery series. The neighborhood
of crime novelsis filled with murderers, sadists and cheats,
but Crais is sounding like theMister Rogers of mystery. (Ed.: yeah, but
can he tie his shoes as fast?)

''What I've tried to do is create a modern paradigm
of the detective. Insteadof the bitter guy sitting in his office over
a blues joint and sipping his rye,Elvis has a positive attitude. He wants to help
people get to a better placein their lives.''

Cole is a wisecracking private eye in Los Angeles
whose first name wasinspired by the late singer. Crais left a promising
career as a scriptwriterfor the TV shows ''Hill Street Blues'' and ''Miami
Vice'' to become a writerof mysteries in 1987.

''It's still fun,'' he said. ''I get to
live the life of a superhero vicariously.Punish the bad guys, help people in trouble.''
He also believes that themystery field, one of the most popular in fiction
today, has a largermessage than ''crime does not pay.''

''We all have mysteries in our lives: Can we pay
the mortgage this month?Can we make enough to cover our kid's tuition?
There's uncertainity there.In a mystery novel, the detective arrives in
a chaotic situation and bringsorder to it. Maybe the deeper message is that
we can find order in our liveseventually.''

Crais was in town this weekend promoting
the seventh Cole book, ''IndigoSlam'' (Hyperion, $ 22.95). The series will continue;
Crais has signed a newthree-book deal with the Disney-owned Hyperion.
Pittsburgh is the halfwaypoint of a 22-city tour, a grueling schedule
which the author believes isessential to the success of his books.

''It's called the phenomenon of hand-selling,''
he said. ''I meet the booksellersevery time a book comes out and when somebody
asks them for a recommend-ation, there's a great chance my book will be
mentioned.''

This is Crais' third coast-to-coast
tour and he says the road shows havedoubled the sales of his books.